There must be no shosts.equiv files on RHEL 9.

Overview

Finding ID	Version	Rule ID	IA Controls	Severity
V-257955	RHEL-09-252070	SV-257955r925852_rule		High

Description
The shosts.equiv files are used to configure host-based authentication for the system via SSH. Host-based authentication is not sufficient for preventing unauthorized access to the system, as it does not require interactive identification and authentication of a connection request, or for the use of two-factor authentication.

STIG	Date
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 9 Security Technical Implementation Guide	2023-12-01

Details

Check Text ( C-61696r925850_chk )
Verify there are no "shosts.equiv" files on RHEL 9 with the following command: $ sudo find / -name shosts.equiv If a "shosts.equiv" file is found, this is a finding.

Fix Text (F-61620r925851_fix)
Remove any found "shosts.equiv" files from the system. $ sudo rm /[path]/[to]/[file]/shosts.equiv